The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney (6 page)

“Where is he?” she asks. She squints at herself in the mirror that’s stuck to the inside of her locker door and smoothes her hair.

“I have no idea,” I say. “But I have to find him.” Suddenly I feel sick. Every moment Jared is out of my sight is a moment he could be with Lexi. And every moment he’s with Lexi is a moment he could be screwing things up. Ohmigod. What if Jared decides to take things into his own hands and tell Lexi he likes her? Or what if he starts flirting with her? Or what if Lexi decides she should let Jared know she’s in on the secret?

“Come on,” I say to Mel. “We have to find him.” I grab her arm and start pulling her down the hall.

“Devon, calm down,” Mel says. “And don’t pull my arm like that—it’s going to pop out of my socket.” She follows me dutifully down the hall, stepping on my heels at one point, but I don’t even really notice because I’m so focused on the task at hand.

And then I see him. He’s putting his stuff in his locker. Of course he’s at his locker. Where else would he be? It’s before first period. Everyone is at their lockers!
Why did I not think of that before? I must learn to think logically about this situation and not let myself get out of control with craziness. Otherwise it could cloud my judgment and I could end up missing obvious things, like the fact that Jared would be at his locker before first period.

“Oh, good, there he is,” Mel says. She points.

“Shh!” I say, pushing her hand down. “Not so loud!”

“Why?” she asks. “What’s the big deal?”

“I dunno,” I say. “I can’t just be pointing at him!”

“Why not?” Mel frowns. “Go talk to him. Didn’t you guys hang out all last night?”

“Yes,” I admit. It’s one thing to talk to Jared when we’re out in a group, when Lexi’s around and he thinks I’m hanging out with her. It’s quite another thing to just go up to him and initiate conversation. What if he forgot who I am?

“So, go on,” Mel says. “At least say hi to him. .We have to go that way to get to homeroom, anyway.”

“That’s okay,” I say, watching as Luke comes walking down the hall from the other way. He stops at Jared’s locker and they start talking. I’m too far away to hear what they’re saying, but I’m sure it’s something very important. Something that shouldn’t be interrupted.
“Really, all I wanted to do was make sure he wasn’t around Lexi. And now that I’ve done that, I’m fine.” I’m lying. Again. I’m not fine. My heart is beating erratically. Jared looks so hot. He’s wearing a blue sweater and khaki pants, and his hair is all shiny, like he just got it cut. Which is impossible, I know, since I just saw him last night, and I’m sure he hasn’t had time to get his hair cut since then.

“Come on,” I whisper at Mel, pulling her down the hallway. “We gotta go.”

“Devi!” someone yells from behind me. It sounds like Luke. I ignore it.

“Uh, someone’s calling you,” Mel says.

“I know,” I say. “Just keep going.” But then I feel a hand on my back.

“Devi?” Luke says. “Hey.”

“Oh, hi,” I say, making it out like I didn’t hear him. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” he says. “Fine.” He looks from me to Melissa. “Hi, Melissa,” he says.

“Hi,” Mel says shyly. How cute! He knows who Mel is.

“Yo,” Jared says, coming up behind Luke in the hall. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Nothing,” I say. It comes out as kind of a squeak,
since suddenly my mouth is very, very dry.

Must. Not. Freak. Out.

“Jared and I were just talking about DDR,” Luke says, smiling. “He was saying that he and Lexi could beat you and me, but I was telling him that was impossible since you and I are obviously the best at DDR, and therefore we would make an unstoppable team.”

What? Why is Jared referring to himself and Lexi as a team? I need to do damage control. Think, Devon, think. Maybe I should make up something really horrible about Lexi. Maybe that she used to be a stalker, and now she’s not allowed to date until her probation is up.

“Yeah, Lexi actually doesn’t really like DDR,” I say. “After last night she said she never really wants to play it again.” In actuality, Lexi loves DDR. Over the summer, we’d play at least once a day at the arcade near my grandma’s house. We’d take the money Lexi’s mom gave her for lunch and change it into quarters, and if we got on a roll, we could make it last for hours. Lexi’s mom didn’t approve of DDR (she thought it was too boyish), and since the arcade was in the mall, sometimes we’d have to hide behind the pinball machine if we thought we saw one of Mrs. Cortland’s friends. It was kind of fun, almost like being undercover agents or something.

“She seemed like she was having fun.” Jared frowns.

“Yeah, well, she’s a really good actress,” I say. This is bad. Horrible, even.

“She used to be in drama at her old school,” Mel offers helpfully.

“Yes,” I agree. “The drama club. She did plays and all that.” Mel and I are nodding our butts off, as if that will make it true.

“Um, okay,” Jared says, looking confused. “Did you have a chance to talk to her?”

“Talk to who?” I ask, playing dumb. La, la, la.

“To Lexi,” Jared says, sighing. “About what we talked about last night.”

Before I can think of something witty and fun that will distract Jared from Lexi, she comes walking down the hall. Talk about horrible timing. Lexi, Mel, Jared, me, and Luke all in the same place. Great.

“Hey, guys!” Lexi trills. She’s wearing a short jean skirt over black leggings and a black-and-white striped top. Her hair is straight, shiny, and parted in the middle.

“Hey, there,” Jared says, practically drooling.

“Well!” I say. “Time to get to homeroom.”

“But the bell hasn’t even rung yet,” Luke says.

“Yeah, Devi, don’t be a dork,” Lexi says. She smiles, showing off her braces.

“Yeah, Devi,” Mel agrees, nodding. “Don’t be a dork.” I make a mental note to kill her later.

“We were just talking about DDR,” Jared says. “I was saying that you and I could beat Luke and Devi any day of the week.”

“Oooh, I don’t know,” Lexi says. “Devi was pretty good. We used to play all the time over the summer. I made her do it because I just love to—”

“Actually,” I say, cutting her off, “I, uh, needed to talk to Jared about the, um, English assignment.” I shoot Lexi a look, to convey to her that she should take Luke and Mel away from me and my boyfriend. Then, in the very next moment, I try to give Jared a look that will say, “I need to talk to you about Lexi, that’s why I’m making everyone leave” and to Lexi will look like I’m saying, “Jared, I love you and I want to be alone with you, so let’s get rid of all these other people.”

“Ohhh,” Lexi says, getting it. She smiles, and looks at Mel like she’s some kind of child who needs to be babysat. “Melissa, right? Can you show me where my homeroom is? I still don’t know my way around this place that well.” She grabs Mel and leads her away before Mel can answer.

The bell really does ring then. “See you guys later,” Luke says, and takes off down the hall.

Oh, thank God. Dodged a huge bullet there. I’m so busy congratulating myself for being so obviously brilliant that I almost forget that I’m supposed to be talking to Jared about a fake conversation I had with Lexi.

“So,” he says, looking at me expectantly. Crap. Okay. Deep breath. I try to think logically about the situation, and not get caught up in panic and emotions, but it’s hard when he’s looking at me like that. His eyes are so blue. I realize how close he is to me, and I remember the way it felt last night when he hugged me after playing DDR. I feel my face start to get hot, and I will myself to focus on the situation.

“So,” I say.

“Did you talk to her?” He has a hopeful look on his face. How is this possible? That he likes Lexi? He doesn’t even know her! He’s hardly talked to her, even. I don’t think they’re in any of the same classes. Which means Lexi came here yesterday, ate lunch with Jared and the A-list, and not only got herself invited out with them, but also got him to like her. This is so unfair. Not only have I known him longer (if you count sitting near him in English as knowing him), but during all of our exchanges, I’ve been extremely witty. In fact, one time in English
I brought up this amazing point about theme in
Romeo and Juliet.
And last year, in sixth grade, our teacher read my essay on Christopher Columbus out loud to the whole class. How is Jared not impressed by this?

“Yes,” I say slowly. “I did talk to her.” Not sure this is the right answer, but I have to say something.

“What did she say?” He’s looking at me eagerly. Oh, Jared, why, why, why? Lexi’s cute, but so am I! I’m losing it. I’m making up weird love poems in my head. Roses are red, violets are blue, Lexi is cute, but I am too!

“She said, uh, she said …” I look around desperately, but there’s really only one answer. “She said she’s not interested in you like that.” Jared looks shocked. Understandably so. I’m sure he’s never heard that before. That a girl isn’t interested in him like that. Which makes me wonder why he didn’t just ask Lexi out himself. Not that I’m complaining. That would have been completely disastrous.

“She doesn’t like me?”

“No,” I say forcefully, making sure I can drive the point home. The sound of my voice surprises me. Not only am I using my Devi voice, I’m using it to boss Jared around.

“But—” Jared starts. The warning bell rings, signaling
that we only have one minute to get to homeroom. Crap. I’m on the other side of the building. The logistics of all these interventions and stalkings is going to be a nightmare.

“Well,” I say. “I should get to homeroom.”

“Yeah,” he says, still looking confused. “See ya.”

Once I’m out of his sight, I kick up my pace a notch so that I’m just short of running. I slide into my seat right before the bell rings. No sweat.

“It’s more about what you
think
it means,” I say, looking at Mel over the table. We’ve in the library during study hall, working on our English assignment.

“But that’s the problem,” Mel says, squinting down at the poem in front of her. “I don’t know
what
it means.”

“You don’t have to,” I say. “There’s no right or wrong answer.” Mel frowns. “That’s the point of the exercise. To see how many different interpretations everyone comes up with, and then kind of show that poetry is really what you get out of it, regardless of what the writer intended.”

“Oh,” she says. “So all I have to do is write what I think it means, and it doesn’t matter if it’s right or not?”

“Yup.”

“Thanks, Devon.” She starts writing happily in her English notebook for a second, and then stops. Her eyebrows knit together in concentration. “So, wait, what does it mean?”

“I just told you,” I say. “It means whatever you think it means.”

“I know teachers always
say
they want you to just interpret it, but what if Mr. Benchley makes us read it out loud in front of the class?”

“I think he’s going to,” I say. “So that we can hear all the other interpretations.”

“Exactly,” Mel says, nodding. “So I don’t want to write anything that’s too crazy, because what if the poem is about sharks or something and I write that it’s about the European countryside?”

“I’d go with the European countryside if you had to choose,” I say. “I don’t think people write too many poems about sharks.”

“I think it’s about love,” Mel says, looking nervous.

“That’s what I wrote too,” I say “That it’s about love.”

“You did?” Mel asks. She picks up her pen again. “And you feel okay about reading that out loud?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Hmm, except for the fact that
Jared is in my class, and my interpretation is about unrequited love. Maybe he’ll think I’m writing about him and Lexi. Sigh.

“Remember what happened last year? When the whole sixth grade had to write a poem for Celebrating Literature Week? And Brianna Hazelton wrote that poem about love, and everyone laughed at her?”

I giggle, thinking about Brianna’s poem. “Mel, Brianna used the words ‘quivering loins’ and ‘bated breath.’ Just stay away from anything cheesy and you’ll be fine.”

Mel giggles. “So what’s the deal with you baby-sitting so much lately?” she asks. She consults the poem again, reads over a line, and then starts writing.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You’ve just been babysitting Katie a lot lately.”

“Oh,” I say, not sure how to respond. I
have
been babysitting Katie a lot lately, mostly because my parents have been at therapy, or making sure to go out on “dates.” But since Mel has no idea what went on with my parents this summer, I can’t exactly tell her that. “Yeah, it has to do with my mom’s work. She’s going out a lot with her clients, and she takes my dad with her.”

“That’s cool,” Mel says, accepting this. “Sucks that you have to watch Katie, though.”

“I don’t really mind,” I say, which is true.

“I wish my parents would go out more often,” she says. “All they do is sit around the house and do puzzles.” Mel’s parents are the most normal parents you’ll ever meet. They’re like a couple you’d see on TV. They do puzzles, and go for long walks with their dogs, and make organic food in their blender. A lot of times on weekends, they get super excited about watching documentaries that they order from Netflix. Which is one of the reasons it was easier to tell Lexi about the stuff with my parents. Lexi’s dad was never really around, and her mom is kind of crazy.

“Yeah,” I say. I pull our BFF notebook out of my bag, and while Mel finishes her English, I start writing her a note. I think maybe writing in the notebook will help me feel better about the fact that I lied to Lexi about Mel liking Jared. But when the bell rings, signaling the end of study hall, I don’t feel any better at all.

Lunch. Things are about to take a turn for the worst. I’m standing at the front of the cafeteria with Melissa, wondering what I should do. The problem is that Lexi is nowhere to be found. She’s not sitting with the A-list and she’s not in the lunch line. I can’t just go
marching up to Jared’s table without her.

“What are we gonna do?” Mel asks.

“I dunno,” I say. “Just stand here for a while, probably.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Mel says. “We can’t just stand here forever.”